Finally Have Some Fish Located Before a Tournament

After 2 long days of serious searchin, I finally found some fish for the Xtreme Tournament at John’s Lake on January 3rd, 2009. I was starting to get worried because all I could find for a while were 12″ fish, but today was a fantastic day. I even dropped my phone in the water but it landed on some weeds and it still works. I never have that kind of luck.

I fished 2 areas and caught a 4 pounder on a Gitem Frog in the marsh area at about 8:00 and caught another keeper on a white Booyah Swim Jig with a white Zoom Ultra Vibe trailer. I then went to my secret area where I fished a few tournaments before that’s protected from the north winds that’s so prevalent this time of year and caught this 5.8 pound beauty on a Gitem Junebug Senko within a few minutes. I figured I better leave them alone until the tournament so I called it a day.

I tried like heck to get bit on a white Termintor spinnerbait with silver Indiana blades and my chartreuse Booyah with gold willow/colorado combo once the wind picked up but never got any takers. Water temp started at 58 and ended up being about 65 when I left at about 1 o’clock. The wind was calm in the morning and started blowing about 10 knots out of the north around 10:00.

I sure hope these fish are there when tournament time comes, cause I’m gonna rock da house. I think I can weigh in 15 to 20 pounds which is usually enough to win it on John’s Lake. Sometimes practice sucks and you do good and sometimes you practice good and suck in the tournament. We’ll have to wait and see but feelin good now.

For once, I’ve got some big fish located before a tournament and I sure hope no cold front comes in to mess things up for me. We’ll have to wait and see.

Chronarch D To Be Released in Jan. 2009

I’m finally done with my Christmas shopping and here’s one I hope I get for myself. It’s the new all aluminum Shimano Chronarch D which will be available in January 2009.

It’ll be 1.4 oz lighter than the already feather light Chronarch B. It is a thing of beauty, but I can’t figure out why they didn’t put the big paddle style handles like they have on the Curado E. 

I also can’t figure out why all the new Shimano’s don’t come in 6:2:1. It’ll only be available in 7:0:1 and 5:0:1. I’m just used to the middle speed and sure hope they come out with an Curado E6 and the Chronarch D 6:2:1. If anyone knows if this is gonna happen, please let me know so I can wait a little while longer. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be ecstatic if I get this $299 reel for Christmas but I’d prefer to get the middle speed if possible.

related link: Tackletour Review of Chronarch D

A Reel Deal on the Shimano Chronarch

One of the best reels ever made is going to be discontinued and on sale for an unbelievable price. The super lightweight and ultra smooth Shimano Chronarch 50 mg is on sale at Tacklewarehouse for $181.88. It’s also the longest casting and the dartanium drag is one of the smoothest money can buy. The 6:2:1 is also a  perfect all purpose speed.

You’d think Shimano would come up with a replacement, but there won’t be according to various sources. It is the season and this is one heck of a deal. 

The only complaint I have with these reels is that it doesn’t hold a lot of line. If you like to fish 17 lb or 20 lb test, you probably won’t like it. The Curado E’s have solved this line capacity problem, but I’m not a huge fan of the plastic sideplates.

Kelly Jordan Shows How to Crank Structure

Bassmaster Elite series pro Kelley Jordan shows how to crank structure on Lake Fork.

2009 PAA Schedule

The PAA recently announced it’s 2009 schedule. If you haven’t heard, the Bassmaster Elites will not have co-anglers next year so the only way you can fish with these guys is to fish this tour. Both BASS and FLW pros are fishing this tour so you should get paired with someone good one of the days. 

I wish I wasn’t fishing the Bassmaster Weekend Series on the 17th or I’d definitely fish as a co angler on Toho.

2009 Schedule:
January 15-17; Lake Toho, Kissimmee, FL
April 9-11; Neely hentry, Gadsden, AL
October 8-10 Toledo Bend, Hemphill, TX
October 16-18 Toyota Texas Bass Classic World Championship, Lake Conroe, Montgomery, TX

Toys For Kids Fishing Tournament at Johns Lake Results

I just finished the Toys for Kids fishing tournament at Johns Lake today and finished fourth with 9.2 pounds. Third place was 9.4 pounds and the winner had a little over 14 pounds. It seems like everyone’s in agreement that the fish are real shallow in the flooded grass…  at least with the people who placed in the event. You can’t complain when you have to frog it all day…  how boring.

I did learn one valuable lesson today. You gotta stick with the game plan. I probably wasted a few hours trying catch fish on a trick worm which didn’t produce. I wasn’t catching them on the trick worm during practice and I should’ve thrown the frog a lot more than I did since that’s the only thing the fish wanted that day.

The weather was gorgeous and the light rain definitely helped the frog bite that I was on. The bite’s been pretty tough out there. I had to put in two long days to find these fish. Anyways, it was a great day and thanks to Jason Casteel for putting the event together.

Finding Bass with Virtual Globe Software

Kevin from bassfishin.com recently posted an informative video on all the recent advancements in virtual globe software and global mapping like Google Earth, GeoGarge, or Nasa World Wind. He also shows how bass fishermen can use these free tools to find fish.

Learning how to overlay USGS topographic data on Google Earth  was the neatest thing I learned from the video. I also didn’t know the bird’s eye view on Microsoft Virtual Earth was so realistic. The video is well produced and well worth the time to watch. 

watch video: The Geospatial Advantage

Charity Bass Tournament at John’s Lake on December 6, 2008

There’s gonna be a team fishing tournament at John’s Lake this Saturday, 12-06-2008 to benefit the Toys for Kids charity. The entry fee is only $50 per boat with $10 optional for big bass and an unwrapped toy from each contestant. The payback will be 100%. I spoke with Jason Casteel the tournament director and he expects 70-100 boats. He also said you can pay at the ramp after 4 am. Call Jason with any questions at 407-709-9182.

I plan on fishing this event, but I’ve got to take my boat to the repair shop because of a bad battery charger. Hopefully it’s something they can fix right away without ordering any parts.